Saving Happiness 2 no official title yet
by AnnAbserver
Summary: Sequel to Saving Happiness: Things didn't end how Carter wanted them to after the events with the Rogue Red Ranger. Second chapter up! The more reviews the more inspiration to write! hint hint
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Soooooooo I had planned to do other stories first, but then I reread Saving Happiness and I had the thought of "wow. you really tortured poor Carter." and thus this was born. I haven't finished it yet, (and I'll be more motivated to do so if people review, hint hint hint, and I actually just wrote it so this is very drafty), but I just really wanted to post something because I haven't for like a year. So here you go.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except maybe the Red Ranger's outfit, but even that's borderline. ;)

"DANA!" Carter bolted upright in bed, his red bedspread was damp with sweat, and he could feel his heart pounding all the way down to his toes. He took in the small bedroom, and then leaned back against the wall. He just needed to take some deep breaths, do those stress-relieving exercises that they had workshops on when he was a firefighter. He just needed to relax.

But how could he when all he could see, all he could hear, were the rangers suffocating, hallucinating, falling, _dying_, Dana almost _drowning_, all because he couldn't answer some silly questions fast enough.

All because he had buckled under the stress.

In his mind, the Red Ranger had beaten him. He just wasn't good enough. Maybe nobody was, but he needed to find out. He needed to find _her_. Yes, all the rangers had agreed that they should not attempt to find the Red Ranger, but even in the name of love, she had gone too far.

And he would never forgive her for it.

Sure they other rangers had looked happy with their newly-admitted feelings, but he had seen the shadows under Sky's eyes, seen the lingering pain on Xander's face, seen the worry in Ashley's touch, and he had seen the pity in Dana's eyes the first time he had told her about one of his dreams. One of his never-ending nightmares. Carter had seen it all.

He got out of bed, pulling on a nearby shirt, and walking over to wear he had hung up his official Lighspeed Rescue coat. He stopped for a moment, fingering the lettering on the jacket, before finally putting it on, and walking out of his room. Outside his room, Carter came to a dead stop. Where should he start? He turned a brisk heel towards Ryan's room. Dana's brother would know all sorts of good contacts to get a tip for this sort of thing. His mind whirled as he came closer and closer to Ryan's door. He lifted his hand to knock, then cursed himself.

"It's the middle of the night Carter. Ryan's not even up, and you can't wake him up for this." He muttered, cursing himself again.

"Carter?" The man in question arrived, cocking his head curiously at the Red Ranger, "Why are you talking to yourself in front of my bedroom?"

"Ryan!" Curse his demon training, Carter thought as he jolted away from the door, "Uh…. Hi."

"Hi."

"So…. Uh… What are you doing up this, er, late?"

"I could ask you the same question." But seeing the look on his friend's face, the ex-evil ranger, he shrugged then continued, "Demons don't really sleep. I'm used to being awake long hours at night."

"Oh." Carter looked down at his shoes, then down the hallway, then at his shoes again.

"What's wrong?" Ryan finally asked, gazing curiously at the firefighter, "Is Dana okay?"

"She's fine!" Carter quickly reassured him, seeing the deadly big brother stare come across the blond in a flash, "She's just still a little bruised from the last… mission." Ryan nodded, quickly understanding that the last mission, with the rogue Red Ranger, was the source of Carter's strange behavior.

"Carter." Ryan pinned Carter with his eyes, "This is about _her_, isn't it?" the Red Ranger glanced down the hallway again, reassuring himself that his girlfriend wasn't standing at the end of it.

"I'm going after her Ryan. She has to be brought to justice for what she did to Dana and the other rangers." He lowered his voice, "Do you have any contacts that could help me find her?" Ryan cocked his head again, contemplating, then he opened the door to his room, gesturing for Carter to follow.

"I might know someone."

It was hard to believe that Karone was ever the Princess of Darkness, or that she had inspired terror in millions of people, and had been the closest of all the villains to take over Earth. The fact that Zordon had to sacrifice himself to stop her… it still made many of the rangers shudder to think about it. _She_ still shuddered to think about it. When she had filled in for Kendrix, it was about redemption. When she worked undercover… well…. It was still about redemption, but it was also about not letting Andros or Zhane find out about her extracurricular activities involving dressing up like a supervillian to find out about various evil plots that she then told Tommy and (anonymously) her brother about.

But she was also the first ranger to start a XEA, or eX-Evil Anonymous,(only it wasn't really anonymous, that was just the official title to get new members), club with-in the ranger community. The club only really took off when Tommy started showing up to meetings, then all the macho-ness was dropped and all sorts of rangers and ex-villains started showing up. Anton Mercer was inducted soon after Dino Thunder hung up their morphers, followed closely by his son, Trent Mercer. The members included Katherine Hillard, the silent Merrick, the Bradley brothers (occasionally one of the wind ninjas would tag along), and the more recent additions of Leanbow and Nick from Mystic Force, and every so often Jason or Kimberly would show up.

And, as Carter found out, Ryan Mitchell was also a member.

"Hey Karone." Ryan spoke to the blond figure in the screen, "How's everyone doing on your side of the galaxy?"

"Good." The perky blond chirped, spying Carter in her view-screen, "But my guess is you didn't call to chat."

"Andros told you about the Rogue Red." Ryan stated, Karone suddenly scowled, and Carter had a very good idea of why she almost succeeded in taking over Earth.

"Makes me wish I was still Astronema." She muttered darkly, "What about her?"

"I want to find her." Carter put in determinedly, "I know that the group of rangers captured agreed not to, but I need to find her."

"I've tried." Karone shook her head, "So far I've gotten a lead of some alien technology that was stolen, Zhane's looking into that one and it could be completely unrelated, but that's it, that's all I've gotten."

"What about Tommy?" Carter pressed, "He seemed to know something."

"As soon as he got back he holed up with Kimberly and hasn't been heard from since." She grimaced, "And I am not about to interrupt that reunion, even to get my hands on the Red Ranger."

"Karone," Ryan interrupted before Carter could say something stupid, "What was the alien technology that was stolen?"

"It was a prototype that some scientists on KO-35 were working on. It was small, it couldn't really do much, so it wasn't that huge of a deal when they lost it." Karone glanced behind her, "Hey Cassie do you remember what exactly that did?" there was a voice in the background, then Karone turned back towards the monitor, and shrugged, "Apparently it didn't really work but it was supposed to utilize a humans dormant telekinesis powers. They've been trying for a long time now, and they've never been able to do it."

"Ryan." Carter thumped down on the bed.

"Carter, you okay?" Karone gazed worriedly at Ryan, "What's going on?" Ryan turned towards the Red Ranger.

"Ryan, Dana was hanging by nothing, _nothing!_ Sure there was a rope going up to the ceiling, but it wasn't attached to anything!" He bolted back up into Karone's view, "She had to have been behind the theft and she was able to somehow utilize the technology."

"It's possible." Karone nodded, "I'll take another look at the tapes, but I still don't think we'll find anything to lead us to her."

"That's fine. We just need to start gathering the clues." He fingered his chin thoughtfully, "Is there anyway we can contact the future? Syd from SPD mentioned some ranger-technology that was stolen from them." Ryan nodded to him, glancing at Karone.

"Eric might be able to get a hold of Time Force, and they could patch us through to the time where SPD exists. But that would only be if he was willing to break the little pack that you guys made about not going after her." The Titanium Ranger gave Carter a grin, "Luckily I'm the one who contacted Karone, so you still haven't broken any bonds of fellowship."

"Hate to break it to you Ryan, but I plan to before this is all over." Carter gave Ryan a very rare grin in return, "And I think Eric Meyers will agree with me."

-----

A/N: Don't forget to review! Reviews= inspiration! And if you have suggestions, go for it, cus I don't really have a storyline yet....


	2. Chapter 2

"No." Eric shook his head, crossing his arms and widening his stance as he faced down the Red Lightspeed and Titanium Ranger, mind you they were unmorphed, but he had a feeling that Carter could blow any second.

And Carter was usually the one with the stick up his butt.

"No?" Carter blinked, "I'm sorry, but why the hell not?!" he flexed his fists, "Don't tell me you agreed with the whole 'we're not going after her' garbage!"

"I didn't." Eric growled back, "But Taylor did, and in case you guys didn't notice, we're planning on getting married."

"Set a date yet?" Ryan intervened, before Carter could kill the Quantum Ranger. Eric softened a bit, looking guilty.

"Not yet."

"She won't have to know!" Carter cut in, "And you're not really helping us find her, you're helping us get in touch with the future."

"Which is strictly against everything that Jen and Time Force ordered." Eric pointed out, "Plus I don't have the keys to the car, Wes does."

"And where's Wes?"

"With Jen."

"And where's Jen?" Carter almost yelled, his grip on his normally non-existent temper slipping.

"Sorry Carter." Eric uncrossed his arms, glancing at his watch and walking backwards towards the tall building behind him, "They've been lovey-dovey since she got leave to stay. So I won't let you interrupt them. We're having lunch right now." He gestured towards the lone Silver Guardian car in the parking lot, "That would be _the car_ that we arrived in." He turned towards the tall building, "And we'll be at lunch for, oh, a good thirty minutes or so." He tipped his cap, and walked away.

"Right." Carter muttered, turning on his heel and marching back towards where the Lightspeed Hummer was parked.

"What are you doing?" Ryan asked, jogging to catch up with him.

"Getting essential government tools."

"What tools?"

"The tools we're going to use to break into their car."

---

"Wes. Jen." Eric acknowledged as he sat down at the table. The restaurant was on the first floor of Mr. Collins company building. The keen businessman had added it to take out his clients to the best restaurant available, and he had gotten the best. Taylor hated the place, she claimed all the oriental food made her sick, but Eric figured it was just the fanciness of the place. He didn't disagree with her.

"Taylor couldn't make it?" Jen asked, frowning slightly. Eric shook her head, Taylor had claimed she had lunch with Shayla.

"She had other plans." He nodded towards Wes, "Ran into Carter in the parking lot."

"I was wondering what was taking you so long." Wes replied, leaning back in his chair, "You said you just had to run something across the street."

"One of the guys asked me to deliver it to their Aunt." Eric shrugged.

"Lightspeed Carter?" Jen asked, sipping her water. Eric nodded.

"Along with Titanium, Ryan." He took off his hat, considering, "He was really fired up about something." He carefully eyed the couple across the table, "wanted to get in touch with the future, specifically, SPD."

"SPD?" Jen frowned, "He wanted to use our comm.-screen."

"Carter's so by-the-book, in the here and now." Wes rubbed his thumb over Jen's hand, "Why would he waste time with the future."

"That's the catch." Eric replied, "Seems Carter disagreed with the team's decision on the Rogue Red situation. Wants to find her." He inclined his head towards the outdoors, "Ryan found out from Karone that there was some important tech junk stolen from KO-35. That tech junk had to do with the powers that the Rogue Red had. They wanted to contact SPD and gather some clues up there."

"Syd mentioned that some stuff had been stolen." Wes put in as Jen shuddered.

"Like those containment cards."

"Thing is." Eric gazed out the window towards the garden located behind the building, "I find myself agreeing with him. That Rogue Red went too far."

"She did do some good though." Wes pointed out, still holding Jen's hand.

"But no one mentioned what she did to them, and Carter did look pretty shaken up." Jen squeezed her fiancée's hand, worry clear on her face.

"Shaken up? He hardly looked at anyone, hardly spoke to anyone!" Eric fiddled with his fork, thunking it down softly on the fine tablecloth. "And you saw Sky and Blake, they were acting like Syd and Tori were going to keel over any second."

"Tommy made an executive decision." Wes pointed out, "We are not to go after her."

"But finding her isn't quite the same thing." Eric pointed out, waving the fork at Wes, "And I for one am not comfortable with the fact that she toyed with us, beat us, and then walked away with hardly a scratch. Not only that but she knows who each and everyone of us are, and has been stealing technology and making side-trips into the future!" The Quantum Ranger scowled, "Justice is justice. There's more than one crime she's responsible for."

"Yeah, but I highly doubt we could bring her in." Jen sighed, "We couldn't even come close to beating her before, how would we now?"

"Either way, Wes, I should tell you that we're probably going to have to fix the lock on our car."

---

Z closed the screen, glancing behind her suspiciously. The Command Center was empty. Good thing too, if Crugar found her she was so dead. Luckily, the top dog was out, and Sky was checking up on Syd in the med wing. She got up and walked out of the room, heading down the hall towards the rec room. She had gone against SPD rules, she had gone against Sky's orders (psh), Crugar's orders, and she had gone against the orders of the man who was considered to be the greatest Power Ranger of all time. But she had covered her tracks, covered the green-headed Time Force Ranger Trip's tracks, and had deleted everything that could be traced to the conversation. She had hacked the database deleting it from the system, she had done everything possible, there's no way they could catch her. She strolled into the rec room, when she found her own blue teammate.

Bridge was making toast.

"Z." he acknowledged, watching the toaster intently. The bread would be perfectly crisp and buttered, Z knew from experience, and the former green ranger would be completely enraptured by it. She sat down on the closest couch. So she had some time to think, some time to consider the next step, if there was to be one. Some time to-

"Z!" Bridge whirled around, a plate of buttered bread in his hand. Z frowned.

"Weren't you just….?" She gestured towards the toaster, "How'd you get done so quickly?" Bridge looked down at his toast, as if surprised.

"I don't know." He looked back up at her, "But I was supposed to tell you something important." He grabbed a piece of toast with his gloved hand, "Something that Kat wanted you to know right away…" he took a bite, gazing up at the ceiling. Z waited patiently, she knew he'd remember eventually. He closed his eyes, savoring the taste of the buttered toast.

"Was it about Syd?" Z prompted, leaning back nonchalantly. She had gotten back from the last mission to recover Sky, and the SPD Red Ranger had immediately taken her to see Kat. Something about a broken wrist, and Syd's powers being on the fritz. As far as she knew, Kat hadn't found any answers to why Syd's powers were out of whack, and so she and Syd went through tests everyday trying to solve the problem.

No luck.

"Syd!" Bridge's eyes shot open, "Yeah! Kat wanted us to test out our powers to make sure that ours were still good. And then she figured she could use Syd's powers going bad to learn more about our powers and maybe find a way for us to use them when we're morphed." He took another bite of the bread; "She also said that the suits could serve as an enhancer to our powers." He smacked his lips, "Mmmmmm, buttery." Z rolled her eyes and Bridge's fingers wiggled around his mouth. Typical Bridge.

"So we're supposed to practice using our powers now?"

"Yeah," Bridge thumped down next to her, still holding the plate of toast delicately in one hand, "Then Sky mentioned training with our powers."

"Great." Z groaned, " Cus we need more training."

"Yep. So would you mind?" Bridge carefully set down the blue plate and turned towards the Yellow Ranger.

"Mind what?" Z asked, angling herself towards him. He pulled off his glove and wiggled his hand at her, "Oh."

"Practice time!" Bridge waved his hand in front of her face, concentrating, "Your aura's pretty much the same as usual" he rambled, "except for one tiny thing…." He frowned, concentrating harder, his hand still, and then he drew back.

"What?" Z asked, frowning, "Are your powers draining you like Syd's?"

"No." Bridge shook his head, "But I think you'd better explain why you were in contact with the past and giving them confidential information involving a break-in at SPD."

"Oops?"

-----

Ryan shifted uncomfortably on his bed, watching the Red Ranger warily, afraid that Carter had mapped him out at one time using spreadsheets and data logs. Carter had turned his bedroom into a strategic war-room, filled with pictures, video's, sightings, known powers, first hand accounts, investigative reports, and all that other stuff that Ryan had never paid attention to in mission briefings. Apparently, Carter knew what he was doing, and apparently he was very determined at doing it.

"And we're using my room…. Why?"

"Dana." Carter shrugged, "She comes into my room all the time."

"Carter-"

"We have a trail now, Ryan." Carter interrupted, stepping back and looking at Ryan's paper-covered wall, "We're going to get her, I can feel it."

"Isn't this a bit much?"

"It's just the start." He looked back at Ryan, "Do you have any contact information for Mystic Force? We need to find out what those spells were she used and how she got them."

"Yeah, their Red Ranger and his dad are in XEA." Ryan sighed, getting up and going over to his desk where his computer was. "But we don't have a communications screen set up there yet, just a phone number."

"Do you remember their location?" Carter had his business face on, and Ryan could already see where Lightspeed Red's thought process was headed.

He and Carter were going to Briarwood.

-----


	3. Chapter 3

Dana gazed at the dress on the computer screen; she should have been studying her medical books like she had told everyone she was going to. Instead, she was shopping online. Dresses were so hard to find, and she had to find the perfect pink dress for Taylor and Eric's wedding. After all, Ranger weddings didn't happen very often! Although there might be more happening in the future, after the last mission.

Dana leaned back, pausing in her Internet browsing. She would never forget the last mission. She doubted any of the Rangers on it would. But Carter…

He was still having nightmares about what had happened to everyone. He didn't tell her, which kind of hurt, but at the same time she knew that she wouldn't have been able to help him in the way he truly wanted, Carter needed to find the Red Ranger and do justice. That was the type of guy he was, why Dana loved him so much. And it just wasn't possible.

It wasn't that Dana didn't want to find her, but there was no way that she could, and not only that she just couldn't disobey orders as easily as that. Especially orders from Tommy, which was then reiterated by her dad. Ryan had gone nuts when he'd seen the burns on her wrists from the rope.

Dana sighed, leaning back even more in her chair. What was she doing even thinking about this? It was a depressing topic, and one that she never talked about anymore, even with Carter who would shut down completely at the mention of it. Sometimes though, she just wished-

Her wrist beeped. Dana glanced down at her morpher, surprised. None of her teammates were on a mission, and Carter and Ryan had left two days ago for some "male bonding time", which was weird seeing as the two weren't much for any recreational activities. So what was up?

"Dana here."

"Dana!"

"Ryan?" Dana frowned hearing some sort of explosion in the background.

"Dana you need to call Karone right away!"

"What?" Dana frowned, leaning closer to hear her brother's voice through the sounds of chaos in the background, "Ryan? What's going on?"

"Call Karone!" Her brother grunted in pain, then continued, "Tell her that Udonna found the spells. Tell her they were underground spells, there was backlash..." Another explosion, "Carter's down, lost the Mystics, and lost the Ninjas."

"Ninjas? Carter?! Ryan where are you?" She grabbed her coat and started running though the door, down the hall, to the hummer.

"Briarwood." His voice sounded strained, "Spells were-" another explosion, then nothing. Dana came to a dead stop in the hallway.

"Ryan? RYAN!" she switched frequencies, "Carter can you hear me? Carter?!" fighting back panic, she bit down on her fear, and ran again toward a transport. She would not lose Carter, and she would not lose her brother.

-----

Eric waved to Wes as he got into his official Silver Guardian car, the weekend was here. Normally, the weekend would've been just like any other day for him, but since he and Taylor had started dating, it was a time that he looked forward to. He smiled slightly, massaging the wheel of his car and taking a deep breath. He hadn't seen her since yesterday, so if he broke a few speed limits getting home, no one knew, and he certainly wasn't about to call himself in. Although if Taylor saw him, she would be _very_ unhappy.

The day he gave her that ticket was the best day of his life.

Some would think that it wouldn't have been a good day, but they won against the mutorgs in the end, and if he was feeling especially sappy (which he usually wasn't.) he would even say the bruises had been worth it to meet her. He always thought that he had to fight tooth and nail for everything, that all he needed was himself. Now he was engaged and having lunch with his best friend and Wes's future wife every Thursday, _and_ he was the co-captain on the silver guardians _and_ he worked for a man who treated him like a son.

Yep, Eric thought, giving way to an abnormal feeling of contentedness, life was good. He pulled up to the house, feeling even more happiness when he saw Taylor's bright yellow car parked outside.

Then he went cold.

The door was open. Taylor would never leave the door open. His steps quickened, his hand going to his holster as he neared the door.

"Taylor?" He warily peeked in. There was a lamp broken on the ground, a chair overturned, and what used to be a glass picture frame littered the carpet. His heart stopped. "Taylor?!" he swept through the house, gun out, carefully checking each room. All the other rooms were clean, and not only that, all the valuables were still there. He came back into the living room and stopped, seeing the yellow wild-force vest lying near the window.

They took her. He reached down without a thought and activated the comm. on his morpher, not even thinking about how he never would have down this before Time Force, not thinking about how his old self would have perceived it as a weakness, but now his strength lay not only in himself but also in his friends.

"Wes. I need you here right away, someone broke into the house, and Taylor's gone…" He heard himself calmly telling Wes everything, heard Wes telling him that he and Jen were on their way and to stay put and watch his back. He heard all of it, yet he couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe himself when he said Taylor was gone.

He turned in a slow circle, observing the room with a Ranger's eye for detail. He just needed to find some sort of clue, needed to see what happened, needed to find out why someone had done this.

He was kneeling on the floor with three feathers in his hand when Wes and Jen came in.

"Oh god..." Jen breathed, surveying the damage and seeing Taylor's vest, she looked over at Eric, but he was preoccupied with the feathers.

"Eric…" Wes carefully stepped over, "Are you okay?" Eric nodded grimly, standing up and passing his friend a feather.

"Eagle feather." He handed the other to Jen, "They knew who she was."

"You don't think…?" Jen took a deep breath, "Rogue Red?"

"Why would she?" Wes shook his head, "She did what she wanted to do, and there wasn't any need."

"Unless she was unhappy we hadn't set a date for the wedding yet." Eric frowned, "but from what we know of her, this doesn't look like her type of thing."

"And she would've been here gloating or something." Wes agreed, then he sighed, "but then who…?" He surveyed the damage.

"Eric-" Jen paused, frowning, "was the door forced?"

"No." Eric shook his head, "She must have known them." Wes looked over at the pink ranger, who was gazing at the wreckage, deep in thought.

"What is it Jen?"

"It just doesn't look like she was fighting someone off." Jen walked around the room, kneeling down to examine the lamp as she rubbed her forehead. Wes shot Eric a look before the other man could say anything.

"What do you mean?"

"Hear me out." She walked over to the front door, turning to face them, "Taylor gets here, opens the door and something happens. She stumbles into the table," Jen acted out the scene, stumbling forward, "Then into the wall, knocking down the frame, then she reaches out to grab the chair and collapses." She pointed to where Eric had found the feathers, "I just don't understand why, but I know it happened something like that."

"How do you know?" Eric asked quietly, fingering the feather. Wes glanced back at him, then at Jen. The Pink Ranger frowned, looking puzzled.

"I don't know… It's as if I could see it all happening."

"What do you mean?" Wes asked, looking concerned, "Like you could literally see it?" Jen nodded.

"And do you remember Mystic Force telling us about that tingle when you use magic? That's what that felt like." There was a silence between them.

"We should call Mystic Force then." Wes finally said, turning towards the door, "I have their numbers in the car." The three of them made their way outside, "I think that Udonna would be the best to call as-"

"Wes." Eric interrupted holding out a hand, "Listen." There was a pause, "Did you hear it?"

"The bird?" Jen asked, looking around.

"It was an eagle." Eric replied, "I would know that call anywhere. Taylor takes me to the Animorium all the time."

"There." Jen pointed up. The eagle was flying down towards them in a slow unsteady glide.

"That's weird." Wes murmured, "It's almost as if it's heading right towards us."

"Maybe it's somehow connected to Taylor." The Pink Ranger replied as the bird landed on the ground in front of them, "You would think it would be more graceful." Eric kneeled down in front of it, holding out his hand.

"Hi there." He said softly, inching closer to it, "Do know something about what happened to Taylor?" the bird seemed to nod, pining Eric with its eyes. Then it lifted its wings and flapped into the house.

"Hey!" Wes followed Eric and Jen in, and then slammed into the two inside the doorway. The eagle was holding Taylor's vest in its beak.

"I don't get it." Jen frowned, "It knows where Taylor is?" The bird squawked angrily, shaking the vest and staring at Eric again. The Quantum Ranger fingered the feather in his hand.

"I think it _is_ Taylor." He said quietly.

The eagle shrieked in agreement.

---

"I had to Bridge!" Z paced back and forth in front of the blue ranger, who was currently doing a headstand. He hadn't even finished his toast. "You saw Syd and Sky when they came back, I couldn't just let that go!"

"I'm feeling happy thoughts." Bridge murmured, before cracking open one eye to look up at her, "You realize you could have completely changed the past and we could disappear any second?"

"Bridge!" Z admonished, "Think positive!"

"Okay." He smiled, "Sky's going to kill you."

"How is that positive?" Z sighed, thumping down on a chair in front of him in frustration.

"You wouldn't disappear as a result of the time-line being changed because you'd already be dead."

"BRIDGE!"

"What? That's positive!"

"I didn't change anything though, I just told Trip and Carter about how she got in and stole the containment cards." She widened her eyes innocently, "How did I change anything?" Bridge closed his eyes again, his headstand never wavering.

"Carter's looking for her, isn't he?" He frowned, "And if there was a clue as to her identity in there somehow, he could find her and she could kill him."

"Positive thoughts."

"Or he couldn't find anything and you broke Crugars orders for nothing." Z frowned as Bridge continued, "And Sky's order's and Tommy's orders."

"Again, you're so positive."

"It's not my fault you went against orders!"

"What orders?" a voice said crisply behind Z. Z jumped up, whipping around as Bridge gracefully fell out of his headstand, landing on the floor beside her.

"Sky!" Bridge exclaimed, getting up off the floor, his eyes darted around the room, "Want some toast?" he grabbed the blue plate, then frowned, "It's kinda cold…"

"But it's buttery!" Z added, smiling widely.

"What orders?" Sky frowned, "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Z said quickly just as Bridge said, "Z did it." Z glared at Bridge who look at her confused, "Was I not supposed to say that?"

"Bridge." Sky growled out, his hands tightly behind his back. "Start talking."

"He'll never talk." Z declared, giving Bridge a warning look, "Because there is nothing to talk about."

"Right." Bridge agreed, his brow furrowing as he thought about it.

"Bridge." Sky smiled thinly, "I'll take away your toast."

"What?!" Bridge gasped, as Z balked at the red ranger.

"You can't do that!" she cried, turning to Bridge, "Can he do that?"

"My toast!" Bridge moaned, staring at his plate, "My buttery" finger waggle, "toast!"

"Don't think I wouldn't." Sky said, confident in his triumph.

"But Z did it!" Bridge replied. Sky's face remained unmoving, "Fine."

"Bridge!"

"Sorry Z." Bridge sighed, turning back to Sky he rubbed the back of his neck, "But you can't take away toast after I tell you."

"Fine."

"Can I leave?" Z asked, inching away from the red ranger.

"No." Sky snapped, then he said in a softer voice, "Bridge, please continue."

"You aren't going to be happy." Bridge warned.

"That's an understatement." Z muttered under her breath.

A short time later Syd walked into the room after she finishing up with Kat and frowned.

"Where is everybody?"

---

Cam coughed, opening his eyes slowly. It must have been the middle of the night, and it must have been one heck of a party, because he didn't remember anything. Wait…. He didn't party, that was Dustin. He blinked, trying to get a handle on his mind, before he passed out again. The next time he awoke, the sun was beating down on him from the eastern sky. Morning. He shook his head; grateful his glasses had managed to stay on after the explosion. The explosion!

The green samurai lifted his head, pushing the branches off of his leather tunic and lifting himself up. His genius-level brain quickly assessed the damage done to his body. He had been slammed up against a tree, hence headache and slight dizziness when he stood up. Cam leaned against said tree, gazing out at the woods around him. Luckily, they had performed the spell away from Rootcore, otherwise the old tree might have been destroyed. As it was they had managed to uproot some of the local trees, displace half of the stream, and send several bushes into orbit. He shook his head again, maybe he hit his head harder then he thought if he was thinking things like bushes in orbit.

Or maybe he was hanging out with his fellow teachers a little too much.

"Carter!"

Cam glanced up, hearing the dismay in the women's voice. Carter…. Again his brain came to his rescue. Lightspeed Rescue, Ryan had called his sister when things had begun to get a little out of hand, sister was Dana, Pink Lightspeed Ranger. Logical conclusion: voice was Dana's, the Pink Lightspeed Ranger.

"Lightspeed Pink?" he cleared his throat as all that came out was a croak and tried again, "Lightspeed Pink? Dana?"

"Hello?" The blonde woman appeared from around a particularly high pile of debris.

"Over here." He drawled helpfully, not trusting his legs to walk over to her. He was fine up against the tree thank you very much.

"Oh my gosh!" the blonde gasped, carefully making her way over to him, "Don't worry I'm a certified medic soon-to-be Doctor."

"I'm fine." Cam waved her off, "I'm Cam, the Green Samurai Ranger of Ninja Storm."

"Ninja Storm, right." Dana tried to process the information as fast as she could. "Dana, Lightspeed Pink." She grabbed his limp hand and shook, "What happened here? Where are Carter and Ryan?" Cam ventured a glance around him.

"I'll explain what happened while we find the others." How was he supposed to explain something he didn't fully grasp? Magic was an element that he was still getting familiar with, and he only had a vague idea of what had happened…

"Carter?" Dana picked through the debris of forest, "Ryan?"

"Over there." Cam said softly, removing himself from his tree-support and limping towards the red-coated body under the branches.

"Carter." Dana breathed, rushing over to him, she brushed the branches off his upper body carefully, in case any were lodged. It wasn't Carter. Ryan gently groaned, opening his eyes and gazing up at Dana with shock.

"Dana?" he rasped out, attempting to sit up, he stopped, grabbing his head, "Owwww." He spied Cam, "What happened? The spell…" Cam held up a hand, stopping him.

"I'm not sure yet what happened. The magic component is one I am unfamiliar with. We need to locate one of the Mystics to fully grasp the situation."

"Right." Ryan nodded his head, waving Dana off and sitting up, "You guys go ahead, I think I need a minute." Cam gave Dana a look, indicating that she should continue looking for others while he stayed with her brother, just to make sure he wouldn't pass out again or anything.

"Carter?" Dana called, seriously worried. She could hear Cam and Ryan speaking in hushed tones behind her, "Carter?"

"Dana…?" a weak voice rasped out from her left side. Dana whirled around, leaping towards the biggest pile of branches.

"Carter!" she cried, cautiously digging him out. He had a bump on the head, but otherwise he was fine.

"Dana." He breathed, cupping her face. Cam and Ryan looked away.

"Tori? Dustin?" Cam shook his head at Ryan's question.

"You saw as well as I did."

"I hope they're okay." Ryan sighed, clutching his arm, and gazing around the torn clearing. Cam said nothing; he was worried enough as it was for his teammates, and the Mystic Rangers.

"R-ryan?" A timid voice inquired from behind the two men. Ryan turned,

"Claire!" He hobbled over to the bedraggled sorceress, "Are you okay?" The young women nodded, tears filling her eyes.

"They're gone…"

"We'll find them." Cam assured her, taking her hand in his.

"We promise." Ryan returned, taking her other hand. Claire smiled sadly, and then looked over to where Dana was helping Carter up.

"Who's she?"

"My sister." The Titanium Ranger replied, as he and Cam dropped Claire's hands.

"Oh." Claire said quietly, and then she squared her shoulders and went to help the Pink Ranger. Cam and Ryan joined them on a fallen tree.

"What happened?" Carter asked, wiping at the cut on his head. Cam looked at Claire.

"This is your area of expertise, not mine." He told her softly. Claire took a deep breath.

"The combined magic's of the Mystic's and Ninja's created a large energy burst which probably…" She looked at Cam

"Which probably overrode the morphing grid and their own powers. " he finished for her, "I just didn't think that the morphing grid would have a reaction like that."

"Sorry, what exactly where you trying to do?" Dana asked from where she was bandaging Carter's arm.

"Uh…" Ryan looked at Carter with a guilty expression.

"We were just trying to ascertain the location of a wanted individual using the information Ryan and Carter had gathered and the Mystic's own knowledge of the magic required by that individual to use certain dark spells." Cam cut in quickly, understanding Carter's pained look immediately.

"We decided the best tracking spell to use would be the elemental tracking spell, one of the most powerful, but to create a large enough spell we needed more pure elemental power, as the most of the Mystic's power comes from their guardians as well as their elements." Claire bubbled, "So we called the Ninja's."

"What happened during the spell though?" Carter asked, before Dana could say anything, "Why did they…?" he trailed off, lacking the proper term for what he had seen.

"The override caused them to revert to their own elements." Claire's brow furrowed, "Tori and Madison to water, Blake, Hunter, and Chip to thunder and lightning, Shane and Vida to air, Xander and Dustin to earth, and Nick to fire." She frowned, "But I wonder since their guardians…" she began marching towards Rootcore.

"Claire?"

"Where are you going?"

"I need to look some things up in Udonna's books." Claire called back, "We have more medical supplies at Rootcore too."

"Claire!" Ryan called, running to catch up with her, "Wait!" he caught her arm, "Where are Udonna and Leanbow?"

"That's what I need to check." Claire's face fell, "But I think Udonna is now snow, and Leanbow is…. Either fire or a wolf." She shook her head, starting off again, "I wish you could help me Udonna." She whispered, feeling tears welling up again. But it seemed that this was to be her test. She only prayed she could pass it.

---

"Hello is Cole there please?" Eric frowned into the mouthpiece of the telephone, "He hasn't come back from lunch? I see. Thank you very much." He slammed the receiver down, startling Jen and Wes. Eagle-Taylor seemed to be used to it.

"No luck there either?" Jen asked, gently stroking Eagle-Taylor's feathers.

"No luck from Alyssa or Max either." Wes sighed, setting down his cell-phone and leaning back into the fluffy cushions of the couch.

"Wes." Eric gazed into the Red Ranger's eyes, "We're going to need a big animal transporting rig, and a tank."

"Why the tank?"

"Because as I recall, Max's animal was a shark." Eric looked at Eagle-Taylor, who nodded in agreement. Jen gave her another stroke, then handed her to Eric who took her with a gloved hand.

"Hiya sweetheart." He murmured softly, petting her gently. She shifted her clawed feet restlessly on his fist, and then let out a soft squawk.

"I'm worried about Max too, but I'm sure he found water." Eric said gently, "I can't believe that Cole would get caught by animal control." He paused again, and then sighed "Taylor I don't want you going alone, what if something happened?"

"Uh, Eric?" Jen asked, exchanging a look with Wes.

"Hang on a sec." Eric looked back at Eagle-Taylor, "I don't care if you've flown farther distances before, that was in a plane, not as an eagle." Another pause as Eagle-Taylor's head bobbed up and down, "No. I'll tie you down if you try."

"Eric can you hear Taylor?" Wes inquired gently, leaning forward again.

"Clear as day." Eric replied, he frowned, realization dawning on his face. "But that should be impossible…"

"Call Mystic Force, I'll call my dad and set up some sort of transport." Wes paused, "And some days off." He looked at Eric, then Jen, "On second thought, Jen you call Mystic Force, Eric take care of your fiancé."

"She's fine!" Eric snapped back, then he looked at Taylor, "I meant aside form the being an eagle bit." Another pause, "What do you mean your hungry? What am I supposed to feed you? Birdseed?!"

"I'll call them now." Jen told Wes with a smile as Eric made his way into the kitchen with Eagle-Taylor squawking on his arm.

"Right." Wes sighed, as Eric let out a yelp from inside the kitchen.

"Ow! No biting!"

---

"Hey Karone, It's Ryan. Just calling to update you on that… thing that we were discussing earlier. Call me back as soon as you can. Thanks, bye." Ryan flipped his phone shut, rubbing his arm and heading back into Rootcore. No one was picking up. He'd even tried Andros, Leo, Merrick, Cole, and Jason, but there was nothing. He was going to have to call Tommy. He didn't want to, but it looked as if he had to. But there was at least one more person…

He dialed, hoping and praying that the Café owner would answer, hoping another genius would be a good addition to the small group that they had.

"Hayley?" he almost sighed in relief as her voice picked up, then he groaned. Voicemail. "Hey Hayley, it's Ryan, Lightspeed Titanium, Tommy introduced us. Please please please give me a call back as soon as you get this message. It's kind of an emergency…" He hung up and almost cursed, he wouldn't call Tommy yet. Someone was bound to call back… although the fact that Jason hadn't picked up gave him a bad feeling inside. Who hadn't he called yet that was a good bet… Wes and Jen! He paused before he finished dialing, Eric was a sometime member of XEA, and in all honesty Ryan knew him better than the other Time Force rangers. He switched numbers.

"This is Eric." The Quantum Ranger's voice sounded tense.

"Eric!" Ryan cried, "I'm so glad I got a hold of you!"

"Yeah, well" there was a small grunt, and a squawk, "You got a hold of me. Ryan, I'm kinda in a crisis right now-"

"Us too!" Ryan took a deep breath, calming himself; "I'm at Mystic Force's headquarters right now and-"

"Mystic Force?" Eric's voice sharpened, "Are they there? Ryan I need to talk to them right away!"

"That's the thing…" Ryan rubbed the back of his neck; "They're kind of missing right now, as is Ninja Storm, and I can't get a hold of anyone else right now, and I'm getting kind of worried…" he trailed off as Eric suddenly began cursing.

"I know you're hungry! But this is an important phone call! Ow!" he yelped, "Will you stop biting me?!"

"Eric? Is… Taylor there…?"

"Yeah, she's being a complete brat right now too. OW! WES!" there was a shuffle on the other end of the line.

"Ryan?"

"Yeah I'm still here."

"This is Wes. We have a slight problem with the Wild Force Rangers…"

"Oh shit." Ryan rubbed his eyes, "They're animals aren't they?"

"How'd you know?"

"Okay Wes, I guess it's confession time."

---

"Hey Kat have you seen Sky, Bridge, or Z?" Syd asked as she walked into the command center.

"No." Kat's fangs glinted slightly in the artificial light, "And Crugar took the rest of the day off, leaving me in charge of criminal-watch." She sighed, clearly longing to get back on the lab to work on Syd's test results.

"Hm." Syd frowned, when suddenly the consol beside her flickered to life.

"Trip to Z. Trip to Z. Come in Z." The face on the screen adjusted something, "There we are. Are you there Z?" Kat checked her monitor.

"That's from the future." She looked puzzled, as Syd's frown deepened.

"I'll handle this Kat." She walked over to the consol and sat down, "Trip? This is Syd, Z's teammate."

"Hi Syd!" The green-haired man chirped, "Is Z there?"

"Z appears to be MIA right now." Syd frowned, "along with the rest of my teammates." She muttered darkly, and then she brightened, "What can I help you with?"

"Uh…" The Green Ranger of Time Force looked slightly nervous, "I kind of needed to talk to Z, but…." He glanced around, noticing the bustling activity behind her, as well as Kat watching carefully from across the room. "Is it possible that we could talk someplace more private?"

"Sure." Sometime later, she was in B-squad's private rec room, the doors locked, with Trip on her monitor.

"Okay." Trip took a deep breath, "I looked into the time period that you, Sky, and Jen were taken to during the Rogue Red mission, and sometime after that mission, specifically after Operation Overdrive ended, I found an anomaly in the morphing grid." He frowned, "It seems that right when the Jungle Fury Rangers morphed for the first time, the Mystic Rangers and Ninja Force were using some sort of huge spell." He paused, "It caused a jump in energy in the grid, affecting all the Rangers in the form of backlash. The Red Jungle Fury Ranger even had to use more energy that would have normally been needed to morph, and-"

"What does this have to do with Z?" Syd interrupted, sensing that the Green Ranger would ramble on in tech jargon as Bridge had a tendency to do. Must be a green thing.

"Well…" Trip looked sheepish, "Z and I kind of shared resources with Carter…"

"Lightspeed Red." Syd said immediately, she had gotten an A in the history part of SPD training, plus after the Rogue Red she had seriously gone back to her history books. "What kind of resources are we talking about?"

"It might have had something to do with the Rogue Red, but I'm not positive."

"Uh-oh." Syd sighed, "And Kat was just experimenting with the whole idea of time travel."

"Yeeeaaaah." Trip agreed, "According to my records the first time machine that was successfully used in your time."

"When in my time?"

"What's the day?"

"17th, it's almost fourteen-hundred hours."

"Sooooo in about an hour." Trip looked a bit sheepish. Syd politely thanked the Green Ranger, closing everything down. Then she was sprinting down the hall, trying desperately to find her teammates-

Who were about to travel back in time without her.

-----

A/N: So you may have noticed some little errors here and there, I haven't actually completely finished the story, and I kinda sorta don't exactly know where it's going (it seriously took on a mind of it's own and went in a completely different direction then I intended) So I'm working on it! And again, the more reviews the more motivation.... nudge nudge wink wink.

Thanks to Griffin Blackwood for the review!


	4. Chapter 4

It was only because Kendall called Taylor's phone in a panic that they found out where Danny and Max were. So Wes and Jen left for Seaworld to try to bail out a great white shark and a huge bison. Eric did not envy them that job. He and Taylor and volunteered to get Cole and Alyssa, maybe track down Merrick as well. Not that anyone knew where the lone wolf was.

"Okay Taylor." Eric told the eagle that was perched next to him in the front seat of the SUV, "You tell Cole not to eat me, and we should be good."

_Why would he eat you?_

"He's a lion!" Eric took a deep breath, taking the exit to Cole's house, "He could have more animal instincts. I mean, you bit me when you were hungry, why wouldn't he?"

_You were taking too long, and I hadn't eaten anything for hours._ Eagle-Taylor seemed to grin at him._ Plus it was fun._

"Insane physco-manaic bird-woman." Eric muttered.

_You really think he'll fit in the horse-trailer?_

"I don't know." Eric sighed, resisting the urge to pull over the grandma driving slowly in front of him, "Hopefully. We got the biggest one."

_I still think we should've gotten the big semi._

"It was super expensive!"

_So? This is an emergency!_

"This will work fine!" Eric snapped back, pulling into Cole's driveway behind the red ranger's jeep, "Are you coming?" He pulled on the thick glove, and then held his hand out to her. She flapped up, taking a second to find her balance.

_Of course I'm coming! I want to see Cole eat you!_

"Very funny." Eric muttered, as he carefully exited the car. "Knock, Knock." He said, ringing the doorbell, "Cole? Are you in there?" there was a soft growl from behind the door, "I'll take that as a yes." Eric sighed, taking a step back and surveying the house, "Guess we'll have to break in."

_Did you even try the door?_

"Of course I did." Eric barked, yanking on the handle, and grimacing when he found it to be unlocked. "See?" he said weakly.

_I see an idiot._

"Shut up bird-woman." Eric glared, opening the door. The shades were pulled, lights out, great sign. "Cole? Don't attack me or anything, it's just Eric and Taylor." Another soft growl. "I'm turning on the lights, okay?" he flicked the switch. He jumped, eyeing the huge lion lying next to the overturned couch with a wary eye, "Maybe you were right about the truck…"

_Of course I was._ Eagle-Taylor replied, exasperated, she flew over to the overturned couch next to Lion-Cole. _Cole? Can you understand me?_ She cocked her head at Eric. _Can you hear him?_

"No. Just you."

_He says he had come back for lunch when he got all dizzy. He sat down on the couch and in the change knocked it over. _Pause._ It's some sort of backlash from a spell. We're going to get you to the Animarium and then try to find Mystic Force._

"Who are currently MIA." Eric added.

_We're going to get Alyssa next. Max and Danny are at Seaworld, Wes and Jen are picking them up._ She flapped her wings in agitation. _I don't know where Merrick is either._

"Would Alyssa know?" Eric asked, but the lion shook his great mane, standing up.

_No, he says they lost touch._ Her head snapped around to face the lion, which was growling at her imploringly. _You're a lion, Cole. You can't exactly sneak around with us, people will probably notice and call animal control or something._

"Maybe he should come Taylor." Eric said softly, eyeing Lion-Cole carefully, "Then we wouldn't have to make a side trip to the Animarium and go straight to Briarwood. And maybe he could help us find Merrick." Eagle-Taylor squawked at him.

_And maybe we'll just get arrested for having a dangerous animal around!_

"We could keep him in the trailer until we got to Briarwood, let him out in the forest and no one would think twice." Eagle-Taylor considered this, and then she flapped over to his hand.

_Fine. We still need to make a quick stop to Animarium though to check in with Wes and Jen. And we have to take Alyssa. Which means we'll need the truck._

---

Ryan glanced over at Cam, exchanging looks with the Green Ranger. They both recognized the same determination in the other's eyes. They wouldn't do it, and they would strap Carter down before letting him. It just wasn't going to happen.

"He needs to know!" Carter said again, "His team might have been turned into Dinosaurs for god's sake!"

"I doubt it. The original members have been cut off from the morphing grid for quite some time." Cam said, tapping the table in front of him.

"What about Dino Thunder?" Carter threw back, leaning towards him, "They may have lost their gems, but Ninja Storm lost their morphers too!"

"It is conceivable that they are now their guardian dinosaurs." Cam admitted, "But then Tommy would have been turned into a brachiosaurus anyway so the point is mute."

"And Kim would have called." Dana added, looking guiltily at Carter, "Sorry."

"It may also be that since dinosaurs are extinct that the spell had nothing to latch onto." Claire looked up from the book she was studying, "So to speak."

"And we would have to tell Tommy _why_ we cast the spell." Ryan added, glancing at Dana.

"I still don't fully understand that." She muttered, looking at Carter darkly.

"Don't worry about it." Claire said hastily, "If you would all kindly be quiet for a minute, I need to see if Rootcore can find Dustin." She took a deep breath, walking over to the globe. "Rootcore?"

"The tree talks?" Ryan asked quietly.

"Not to me." Claire admitted, "But to the earth mage it would. Unfortunately, I think Xander is running around out in the forest somewhere in the form of a Minotaur."

"Wait." Cam held out his hand, "So if dinosaurs are extinct and the spell had nothing to 'latch onto', so to speak, then why did Mystic Force change into animals from legend?" Claire blinked at him, clearly shocked.

"You've never seen a Minotaur?" she frowned, "Well I suppose they are quite rare. Udonna took me to meet some in another dimension when I was younger, although I personal loved meeting the phoenix in the Mystic Mother's palace."

"Right." Carter intervened, as Cam frowned, "So should we find Xander?"

"That could prove difficult." Cam drawled out, "Considering he's now a Minotaur, and only one of us has actually seen a Minotaur before."

"Could you find him in the globe?" Ryan turned to Claire, ignoring the negative Green Ranger.

"Udonna and I were going to tune my powers to the globe this week." Claire blushed, "Otherwise it doesn't give a very clear picture."

"Maybe you should try anyway." Dana told her softly, getting up to stand next to her, "You can do it, we believe in you."

"Right." Claire closed her eyes, gathering her powers to her and pushing them at the globe. It was all about willpower, and luckily, she had enough.

"I see him!" Dana cried, as Claire opened her eyes to view the globe.

"He's in the forest." Cam said dryly, "So, where can we find trees that look like that? Oh yeah. Anywhere!"

"Cam, shut it." Ryan hissed, "Claire do you recognize anything?"

"No." Claire sighed, "Cam's right, it could be anywhere."

"Well, at least you tried." Dana said comfortingly, "Think you could try for the other's too?"

"If Madison's a mermaid you might be able to find the closest body of water." Carter added. Claire nodded, shifting her point of focus from Xander to Madison.

"It's just showing her underwater." Claire growled, frustrated, "Let me try the other's." But there weren't any distinguishing features for anyone. Chip was in a tree, Vida was flying around, Nick was up in the sky, Udonna was currently in a cloud, and Leanbow was sleeping somewhere on the forest floor.

"What about Daggeron?" Carter inquired as they watched the sleeping wolf. Claire shook her head.

"He's visiting the Snow Prince in another dimension right now, so the spell wouldn't have affected him."

"And you don't know which dimension?" Cam asked softly. Claire shook her head, close to tears.

"Hang on a sec." Ryan held out a hand as his phone started ringing, "Hello? Oh hey Wes. Yeah. Yeah. How close are they? That should work. Does Taylor remember the way? Okay. Yep, I'll call you when they get here." He snapped his phone shut, and then smiled grimly, "Eric and Taylor are coming over. They swung by the Animarium to pick up Wes and Jen, who are with Kendall, Max, and Danny. Oh, and they found Merrick there with the Princess so he opted to come with them."

"Did they find Cole and Alyssa?" Carter asked, frowning.

"Yeah, they also decided to come. And to remind you, Cole's a Lion, Alyssa's a White Tiger, and Merrick's a Wolf." Ryan lifted an eyebrow, waiting for one of them to get it. Cam didn't disappoint him.

"Trackers." The Green Ranger nodded, "Perfect."

---

Syd sprinted down the basement testing area. Kat would put the time machine, if there really was one, down there. She frowned as reached the elevator, frantically closing the doors and waiting impatiently for the elevator reach the bottom floor. How dare they try to leave without her! After everything they've been through and they try to travel back in time without her.

Ingrates.

The door opened, and she stormed through the doorway, jogging down to the most hidden part of the testing area. Yep, there was a funny looking ship-thing that screamed proto-type time machine, and there were two of her teammates, getting onboard.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Syd screamed, stopping the two of them in their tracks, "Sky, Z, you better have one hell of an explanation for trying to leave without me!"

"Uh…" her boyfriend looked to Z for help.

"Well…" Z started, "Um…"

"SYD!" Bridge leaped out of the strange ship, grabbing her arm and tugging her onto the ramp, "We were afraid you weren't going to make it! We have to leave in five minutes!"

"What?" she whipped around to face Z and Sky, as Bridge pulled her onto the ship.

"Yeah!" Z quickly latched onto the Pink Ranger's other arm, leading her aboard, "Didn't you get our message?"

Sky rolled his eyes, following his teammates onto the time ship.

"Time to give this baby a test run." Bridge chirped, sitting down in the pilot seat, "Get it? _Time _to give it a test run."

"You know how to work this Bridge?" Sky asked, sitting in the copilots seat, Z and Syd behind the two men.

"Sure." Bridge nodded, flipping seemingly random switches, "Er, this could get kinda loud…"

_Maybe this wasn't such a good idea...._

---

It was a good twelve hours* before Eric, Wes, and Jen showed up with Eagle, Lion, Tiger, and Wolf in tow. They had ditched the truck on the road next to the forest, and anyone could see that Eric was obviously exhausted from the drive, but he had a grim faced look about him that was all business, so no one asked if he wanted some rest.

"Okay." Eric sighed, sitting in the Red Mystic's chair in Rootcore, "Let's go over this again to make sure I got it. Dustin, Tori, Shane, Blake, and Hunter have all been turned into their respective elements. Nick, Madison, Chip, Vida, Xander, Udonna, and Leanbow have either been turned into their elements or their mythical, but real, namesakes, while Wild Force has been turned into their animal namesakes, and other people such as Jen and I, are experiencing the same form of backlash in the form of our own supposed-to-be-forever dormant magic powers leaking through." He let out another sigh, eyeing Taylor warily as she preened herself, "Is that right?"

"Essentially." Cam replied, "Do you think Cole, Alyssa, and Merrick can track their scents?" Erik looked at Taylor, who squawked at the three animals lying lazily on the ground around them.

_Cole says he feels with his newly heightened senses he can, and Alyssa and Merrick agree. I will fly around and see if I can locate any of the boys. _Eric narrowed his eyes at her.

"We've been over this Taylor, you're flying skills suck."

_I just need some practice. I'm a born flyer!_

"Whatever." Eric muttered, too tired to argue. He rubbed a hand over his face.

"Sooooooo was that a yes they could track them?" Claire asked, reminding the exhausted Quantum Ranger of the others inabilities to hear Taylor or the others speak. Eric gave her what could only be described as the patented Eric Meyers 'duh' look.

"Yes."

"So who's scent should we give them first?" Dana asked, as Taylor eagle-glared at her fiancé.

"I would suggest Xander's or Leanbow's." Cam shrugged, "Both would be ideal as they are still grounded, unlike the others who are flying or swimming, making them harder to find. Xander could also communicate with the earth to find Dustin, who can then use his skills to find another ranger etc."

"I vote we split up then. Cole and Alyssa go after Xander, and Merrick goes after Leanbow." Wes proposed. Taylor let out a squawk.

"NO." Eric snapped to her, wearily resting his head back against the chair. Dana cleared her throat.

"Soooo…" The Pink Ranger looked around, "Two questions. One; will the changed rangers recognize us, and second; how are we turning them back?" The rangers froze, looking at a very uncomfortable Claire.

"Hopefully I will have found a solution by then." She squeaked out, blushing under the scrutiny.

"But will they be dangerous?" Jen asked, leaning forward.

"Well…" Claire shrugged, "It could be since Wild Force remembered even in there animalistic forms that they remember. However since they haven't exactly come to find us or give any indication that they remember…"

"Hang on." Eric turned to Taylor, "What do you remember when you first turned?"

_It… well I felt so trapped inside the house, and then I saw the sky outside the window and the next thing I knew I was out, flying high in the sky over the city. I was completely instinctive, like an animal. I… don't think I would've remembered that I wasn't truly an eagle if it wasn't for you._

"What about Cole, Alyssa and Merrick?" Eric asked, giving his eagle-fiancé a reassuring stroke on her back.

_Cole says that the only time he felt his animal instincts rise up was when we let him outside, and after we came to the forest, but because we were there he remained in control. Alyssa agrees._

"And Merrick?"

_He says he remembers changing, then how he had to get to his pack, in this case Princess Shayla, and since he was on Animarium at the time it was easy to get to her and protect her, and upon seeing her he regained his humanity as well._

"Okay. So here's the deal." Eric eyed the other rangers carefully, "In their natural environment, aka nature, it is extremely difficult for the transformed rangers to maintain control over their animalistic mind unless there is a presence of humanity to remind them."

"Understood." Ryan nodded, "What's the plan?"

"We split up." Carter turned, "Wes?"

"Right." Wes nodded, "Eric and I will go with Taylor, Jen and Dana will go with Cole and Alyssa, Ryan and Carter with Merrick, and Cam and Claire will work from here."

"You and I with Taylor?" Eric asked, frowning, "Why?"

"We need Taylor in the air." Wes said apologetically, "I agree with her."

"Wes!" Eric stood, as the other rangers slowly excused themselves, animal guides slinking ahead of them.

"Eric she can find Chip, Nick, and maybe some of the others."

"Yeah?" Eric stood, slamming his fists down on the table, "And what if she forgets who she is? Huh? What if she doesn't come back? Did you think about that?!"

_Eric._ Taylor flapped her wings, landing on Eric's shoulder and rubbing against his face lovingly, _I can do this. I won't forget you. _She pulled back. _Who could forget someone as hardheaded and silly as you?_ Eric let out a bark of laughter.

"You're as bad as I am, you spoiled, bossy, eagle-woman." Eric sighed, too tired to fight, and knowing that they were right. They needed Taylor in the air. "Fine. Let's go."

"All right Cole." Claire was saying as they came outside. She held a small piece of green material in front of her, "Alyssa. You should be able to get Xander's scent from off of this." She kneeled down as the two great animals sniffed it. Alyssa seemed to wrinkle her nose, as Cole sneezed, clearly they had the scent. Claire handed the fabric to Dana, instructing them to start at the clearing where the spell had been cast. Then she repeated the procedure with Merrick, a purple cloth in her hand.

"Wow." Jen breathed when the reached the site of the spell, "You guys did some major damage. What exactly were you trying to do?"

"I still haven't figured that out yet." Dana said, glaring at Ryan and Carter. The Titanium and Red Ranger ignored her, intent of following the wolf in front of them. Alyssa let out a growl, signaling them to follow, as Cole took off ahead of them in the opposite way that the boys were going.

"Right." Jen replied running after the Lion, Dana and Alyssa following close behind. They didn't have too far to go before they heard deep growling noises coming from the forest in front of them. Cole stopped, growling softly.

"That's not good." Dana said softly, kneeling down to calm a tense Alyssa.

"Agreed." Jen nodded, surveying the dense forest around them, "From what we saw in the globe, and from what Claire said, "The Mystic's, minus Daggeron, Leanbow and Udonna, are in Titan form only smaller."

"Instead of Zord size lifesize." Dana agreed, standing, "So what's the plan?"

"I vote we-" Jen broke off, "Cole, what's wrong?" The lion let out a roar just as the foliage in front of them burst apart, revealing a eight-foot tall green and silver Minotaur. The two Pink Rangers were thrown back, as Cole and Alyssa scattered in front of them.

"Great." Jen muttered, picking herself up from off the ground. Cole and Alyssa ran around the Xander's feet, confusing the great beast as it couldn't track them with it's massive head. He let out a bellow and began swinging at the ground with his huge axe.

"Down!" Dana screamed, grabbing Jen and pulling her out of the way of the weapon.

"Xander!" Jen yelled, dodging another swing, "We're not here to hurt you!"

"He doesn't remember!" Dana shouted, rolling on the ground. Alyssa darted in letting out a roar of her own, but Xander ignored her, and went on swinging. Dana let out a deep breath, and morphed into her ranger outfit.

"What are you doing?" Jen bellowed, as the Pink Lightspeed Ranger stood and slowly walked over to the Minotaur, who was slowly calming down.

"He doesn't know who we are, but he recognizes the Ranger uniform." Dana didn't take her gaze from the great-supposed mini-titan, "Morph!"

"Crap." Jen muttered, willing her suit on, "Xander?" He was eyeing their uniforms, "Hello."

"Do you remember who you are?" Dana asked gently, Xander nodded, going down on one knee and resting his axe on the ground.

"And do you know who we are?" Jen put in, glancing at Dana. Xander shook his head, but pointed at his wrist, then at Jen.

"You know we're Rangers." Dana breathed; she demorphed just as Jen did. "I'm Dana, Pink Lightspeed Ranger. You met by boyfriend Carter, and my brother Ryan." Xander nodded.

"I'm Jen, Pink Time Force Ranger." She looked down at the two great Cats, "This is Alyssa and Cole from Wilde Force, the spell or whatever turned them into their respective animal guardians just as it did to you." Xander nodded again, pointing to himself. Then he pointed to a tree.

"Rootcore?" Dana guessed. Xander nodded again, holding out a hand, indicating that he would carry them.

"Oh." Jen smiled at her fellow Pink Ranger, "Why thank you Xander." He stood, making his way towards the home base, a lion and tiger following, and two women perched on his shoulders.

-

"I knew this was a bad idea!" Eric seethed, waiting for Taylor impatiently on the top of a rocky cliff. He was pacing in front of the Red Time Force Ranger, clearly a bit agitated.

"Eric she's barely been gone." Wes grimaced; it had been a little while, but still.

"I don't care!" Eric yelled, "This was a terrible idea to begin with!"

"She's looking for Chip or Nick. We have to give her time."

"Whatever." The Quantum Ranger said coldly, gazing at the sky in a fury. Wes closed his eyes, savoring the breeze across his face.

"But honestly, how long could it take?!"

Wes sighed, ignoring his best friend. "Just relax."

"Wes?"

"What?"

"When something is big and yellow, and chasing one's fiancé, what should one do?" Wes opened his eyes to stare at the Quantum Ranger.

"What are you talking about?" Wes cried finally completely exasperated with his co-captain. He looked up, Taylor was coming full speed towards them, screeching, and behind her was a giant yellow… bird. "Chip?" Wes guessed.

"Taylor says RUN!" Eric yelled, grabbing Wes's arm and dragging him back towards the woods.

"Whoa!" Wes cried as Taylor swooped over their heads.

"Run faster!" Eric screamed as Chip came in closer and closer, "get under the trees!"

"Right!" Wes replied, hopping over a log, he slapped his wrist, "Jen!"

"_Wes? What's up?"_

"We're being chased by a giant yellow bird!"

"_Where are you?"_

"Eric!" Wes yelled to his companion as he jumped over a stump.

"I don't know where we are!" Eric replied as they neared the trees, the yellow bird's breath hot on their necks, "But Chip says we're dinner!"

"You can hear him?" Wes screamed back, amazed.

"Hit the deck!" Eric threw himself to the ground, Wes right next to him. Chip swooped over, pulling up before he hit the trees.

"That thing's got legs that it can run on." Eric cried, as the bird landed. Vaguely he registered Taylor screaming something at him, but all he could really concentrate on was the bird's incredible hungry feeling.

_Did you hear me?! Morph you idiot! Eric! You need to morph! He doesn't understand! MORPH!_

"_Wes you need to morph, it shows him you're a ranger." _Jen's voice buzzed faintly from their morphers.

"Fine!" Eric yelled, standing, as the bird charged towards them. "Quantum Power!"

"Eric wait!" Wes yelled, "He's too close!" Dust flew as the bird tried to come to a halt in front of the morphed Quantum Ranger, Wes ducked down, careful of the flying debris caused by Chip's attempt to stop.

_Eric!_

The dust cleared, and both Eagle and Time Force Ranger were finally given a chance to see the damage. But the bird had displayed it's own Ranger reflexes, and was surveying the Quantum Ranger from where it stopped a mere two feet away from him.

_You stupid-_

"Wes," Eric demorphed deliberately interrupting his fiancé, "I think we found Chip." The Garuda nodded. Standing at a bit taller then Eric, Chip's titan form, however small it supposedly was, was super cool to look at, despite the fact that it was yellow. Wes and Eric both silently agreed that it would be a way cooler form in red.

"Do you remember what happened?" The bird nodded at Wes's question, looking questioningly at the Eagle perched carefully on Eric's gloved hand. Wes looked at his counterpart, "Can you understand him?"

"Kinda." Eric frowned, "It's more like the general feeling. I can hear Taylor's voice, but with Chip I can only get a… imprint of his emotions" he shrugged, "And right now he's still hungry." The Garuda nodded vehemently, letting out a squawk, and waddling off in the direction of Rootcore.

_Brilliant._

"Well why didn't you talk to him?" Eric asked as they followed Chip.

_Oh… I don't know, maybe because he was going to eat me?!_

"I knew this was a bad idea." Eric muttered as his fiancé flew up to sit on Chip's larger shoulder, "Stupid bird."

------------

*Twelve hours is a complete guess on my part. I have no idea where Briarwood is relative to the Animarium, so I picked a nice number and will leave it at that.

A/N Sooooooooo didn't plan on posting anymore for a while as school has started, but I felt the need to post something! So as I get the time to write, I'll post. I hate it when writers never update, so I'll try my best! Of course I would be much more motivated with some reviews...... ;)


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

"I'm glad Merrick's a wolf." Carter said to Ryan, as the two made their way back to Rootcore. Merrick and Leanbow were currently prowling around in front of them, wolf forms relaxed as they neared the giant tree.

"Me too." Ryan murmured, his attention on the trees surrounding them.

"You okay? I mean, relative to almost being eaten,"

"I feel like someone's watching us…" The Titanium Ranger trailed off, "My demon-senses are tingling."

"Maybe it's just-"

"Carter! Ryan!" A faint thudding sound came from their left. Carter and Ryan whirled, wrists up, ready to morph.

"Hi!" Dana waved from on top of the Minotaur's shoulders. Jen grinned down at them as Cole and Alyssa stalked over to where the wolves were gazing intently at the Minotaur in front of them.

"Xander?" Carter guessed, the great head nodded, then reached up and carefully helped Jen down to the ground. He was about to do the same with Dana when a pink blur zoomed out of the forest and began pulling at Dana's hair.

"Ow!" Dana yelled, swatting at the small pixie. She jumped, safely landing in a crouch on the ground below.

"What the heck is that?" Jen asked, as the pixie landed on Xander's shoulders. She was about four feet tall, and had light pink wings sprouting from her back. She seemed to be scolding Xander soundly with little chirping noises.

"Vida…?" Ryan asked, but Xander was preoccupied, his deep rumbles a sharp contrast to the pixie's chirps. The pixie gave him a light punch on the nose, and then gave him a big hug.

"Awwwww." Dana crooned. Alyssa meowed in agreement. Jen hid a laugh, then her eyes widened.

"Dana watch out!" She started forward, morpher ready as the pixie swooped down towards her fellow pink ranger.

"Oops." Dana glanced at her sheepishly as the pixie chirped at her angrily, "I think I made her mad."

"CH-RIP!" Vida buzzed, then flew back up to Xander's shoulder and proceeded to glare at Dana with her big yellow eyes.

"Right." Carter chuckled, "So we found Xander, Vida, and Leanbow." He glanced around, "Where's Eric and Wes?"

"Squawk!"

"Oh my-" Jen broke off, clutching her heart, and turning to face the giant yellow Geruda behind her. Her eyes narrowed, "Chip Thorn you will not scare me like that!"

"Wes!" Ryan waved to the two men tromping through the woods a little ways away. Vida's wings hummed as she took flight and began berating Chip with her little chirps, Chip however ignored her, and began sniffing the air.

"We're getting all sorts of scares today." Dana murmured to Jen, bending down to pet Alyssa.

"Stupid bird." Jen muttered darkly, then she grinned, "But at least Vida's getting a work-out." Referring to the agitated pixie that was flying between Xander and Chip.

"Wonder what's wrong." Dana frowned, "She seems upset."

"She did get turned into a pixie, and her boyfriend into a Minotaur, and her best friend into a giant yellow bird."

"Garuda." Dana corrected

"Whatever." Jen crossed her arms, "I mean why wouldn't she be upset?"

"True." Dana replied, watching Jen nod then turn towards her fiancé.

"Where's Taylor?" she called to the two Time Force boys.

"She's scouting around, hoping to find Nick." Wes replied coming up to her.

"Getting into trouble probably." Eric grumbled, looking around, "So are we going to ask Xander to find Dustin or what?"

"Hey Cole." Carter turned to the lion, which was lying lazily on the ground, "Could you go get Claire and Cam? They'll probably want to be here for this."

"Oh, and Chip's hungry." Eric put in. Chip squawked in agreement, walking over to Xander and Vida.

"I think Xander is too." Jen said, grinning up at the Minotaur, who let out a grunt of agreement. Vida did an exaggerated head roll, and then gestured at them regally.

"Chirp-_names_-irp"

"Whoa!" Dana whirled on the group, "Tell me you all heard that!"

"I did." Jen replied, looking quizzically at Vida, "She said names." She looked at Dana, shock evident on her face.

"I'm not surprised." Claire appeared with Cam and Cole in tow, she crossed her hands shyly in front of her, "Udonna always said that the pink rangers had a special connection to each other, more so than any other ranger color."

"Vida's getting through to us." Dana nodded, "Ok."

"Soooo, names?" Cam prompted.

"The animals are part of Wild Force, Cole, Alyssa, and Merrick." Claire pointed, "And this is Chip, Vida, and Xander as you all know." She stood up to the three, "Xander can you still connect to the Earth?" the great head nodded, "Then could you find Dustin in the Earth somewhere?" Xander nodded, looking at Vida and cooing at her gently. She chirped back and flew down to stand next to Dana and Jen.

"SQUAWK!"

Eric winced. "Chip's still hungry." He told Claire. She nodded, gesturing at the yellow bird as Xander kneeled down on the ground, bending his head. A big plate of steaks appeared in front of Chip, who squawked his thanks and plopped himself down, trying to figure out how to eat without hands. Cam frowned at him then turned his attention towards Xander.

"_Concentrate."_ Dana and Jen heard as Vida watched her boyfriend.

"Try summoning him." Claire said gently. Xander placed one hand on the ground, and the earth beneath them seemed to take a deep breath. Then he let out a gasp, the twigs and leafs on the ground shooting up to form a humanoid figure in front of them.

"Dude!" A Dustin voice emerged from the figure, "That is like, such a rush!"

"Dustin!" Cam came forward, "Do you remember who you are?"

"Dude, uh yeah. Of course I do." Dustin gestured at Xander, with a leafy arm, "But until the jolly green giant dude gave me a form I was stuck. But it was friggin' cool!" he paused as Xander let out a small indignant bellow, "My bad Xan-man, _Minotaur_ dude. That's so awesome!"

"So you can't turn back to human?" Cam asked worriedly, used to Dustin's dude-ness.

"Nope. And like I said, I was stuck in the earth, which is awesome by the way, until Xan-man gave me form." Dustin floated over Cam, waving a hand in his face, "Duuuude this is so sick! I'm like pure Earth!" he glanced over at the lion, "Dude! Let me guess, Wild Force? Sick, man!" He quickly explained to the others that he had, somewhere along the way, met the team of Wild Force, it might have even been at the last Ranger get-together, but he didn't fully remember.

"Dustin can you feel Shane in the air?" Claire asked the ninja.

"Nope."

"V says she can." Jen and Dana chorused, grinning at each other.

"Can she give him form like Xander did to Dustin?" Cam asked quickly, anxious for his teammates.

"_No."_

"Why not Vida?" Dana turned to look down at the pixie.

"_Air."_

"Air?" Jen looked at Dana quizzically, "I don't get it." Light bulb moment, "Ooooh you can't give form to air!"

"But can you at least give him a way to talk to us?" Cam asked, giving Vida his best pitiful look (which Cam did not have mastered at all. But no fear, Tori was working with him on it.)

"_Try."_

"She says she'll try."

"The Xan-man says stand back." Dustin put in from where he was trying to grab some of Chip's steak, "Apparently Vida's partial to pink whirlwinds." Vida chirped indignantly, then lifted her arms and let the wind lift her into the air.

"Dustin!" Shane's voice floated out of the air as Vida gently landed back on the ground.

"What?" Dustin looked up from attempting to steal Chip's stake.

"Squawk!"

"My bad dude." Dustin told Chip innocently.

"So we have three mystics two ninja's and a mentor found." Carter sighed, "I don't know how we're going to find the Bradley brothers. Or Madison and Tori for that matter!"

"Or Udonna." Ryan put in.

"Chip should be able to find Blake and Hunter." Claire nodded to Chip, "When he's done eating of course." Chip nodded, putting beak to plate again.

"What about Madison and Tori?"

"Well," Claire shrugged at Carter's question, "We find the closest body of water."

"Which would be where?" Wes asked, scratching behind Cole's ear.

"Could be one of two places, the beach or the lake." Claire looked sheepish, "But if they're underwater I don't know how we're going to find either of them."

"And Maddie's our best bet to find Tori." Shane's voice said.

"_Chip._" Vida gestured at the squawking bird. Dana and Jen turned, but Dustin was two steps ahead of them.

"Xan-man says that Vida says that Chip says that Taylor's flying in." he looked mournfully at the empty plate in Chip's lap.

"The only thing I got from that was that Taylor's coming." Eric said, looking up, and sure enough his fiancé was flying towards him.

_Eric! I found Nick!_

"She found Nick." Eric told the group, Claire sighed in relief.

_He's in trouble!_ She landed on log below Eric then hopped up to his arm. _He keeps going to phoenix form and throwing himself towards the water trying to find Madison, and dousing his flame. I can't get through to him! He's getting weaker and weaker!_

"We need to get to the lake." Eric said, beginning to jog forward, as Taylor bolted back towards the lake. "Now. Nick's in trouble." Vida squealed rushing ahead with Taylor and Chip, Xander stepping more carefully behind the running group.

The first thing they noticed when they got to the lake was the shrieking. Eagle shrieking.

"Taylor!" Eric yelled as they rushed out from the tree cover. Taylor flew down to Eric, preening herself.

_I'm fine, but he almost burned me!_

"What do you mean?" Eric asked, but Wes was already pointing to the sky. Nick wasn't in titan form, he was just a bird made of pure fire, his phoenix form. Vida and Chip hadn't even reached him yet when he spotted the group on the shore.

"Incoming." Jen said, Xander behind her, as the phoenix shrieked towards them, swooping past the two flying Mystics. It began to glimmer as it reached them, and as it reached the ground the glimmer turned into Nick's titan form. A red knight loomed before them, sword ready for battle.

"Uh-oh." Carter murmured as Nick swung his sword down, but Xander rushed forward, blocking his leader with his axe. Nick may have been smaller than the Minotaur, but he was still just as strong, forcing Xander back a step.

"Vida says he's in a phoenix rage." Shane said from the air beside Ryan.

"What's a phoenix rage?" Cam asked Claire, who was watching the battle worriedly from beside him.

"It's hard to explain, but in this case he's so intent of finding Maddie that he'll fight anyone or anything until he… regains his senses." Claire winced as Nick slammed into Xander again and again, Vida flittering around his head, Chip going for Nick's legs.

"He's a typical Red Ranger." Dana muttered giving Carter a sidelong glance. Carter squirmed.

"I apologized for the Forever Red mission a long time ago!"

"Whatever."

"Shouldn't we, like, help them?" Dustin asked, his leaves rustling.

"They look like they've got him under control." Eric replied. Chip had taken Nick down, hitting him in the back of the knees, and Xander was holding down his arms, Chip his legs, and Vida was giving him a what-for in his face. Slowly, the Red Ranger stopped struggling.

"I think he's calm enough to approach now." Shane observed, his voice floating forward towards Nick. Claire ran forward as the other Mystic's let their leader up. He sat up, gazing at Claire as she came towards him. She gave him a quick hug as the others walked more casually towards them.

"Dude. Wait, isn't he, like, with Maddie?" Dustin whispered to Carter. Carter laughed.

"Claire's his cousin, remember?"

"Oh yeaaaah."

"Chiiiirp." Vida began gesturing at the other transformed rangers, flitting around each one of them and chirping at Nick.

"Vida's introducing Wild Force." Shane said, causing Eric to jump.

"Warn a guy." The Quantum Ranger muttered to the breeze beside him.

"So we've found four out of five mystics." Wes said after the introductions were over, "But how are we going to find the fifth? I mean, we don't exactly have an underwater zord."

"Not only that but we can't overload the morphing grid again to access our zords." Carter pointed out, "There's only enough energy for one active team with zords at a time."

"Dude, maybe Maddie and Tori already found each other." Dustin rustled, "I mean, I sensed the Xan-man while I was earth-stuck."

"I sensed Vida as well." Shane added.

"Squawk!"

"Xan-man says that Chip says he's going to go find Blake and Hunter." Dustin translated.

"Be careful Chip." Dana said, patting the yellow bird on the wing.

"I'll come with you." Shane's voice floated out, "After all, they are Thunder Ninjas for a reason." Chip just shrugged, then stepped away from the group to take off.

"Back to the Maddie problem." Jen said as Chip flew overhead accompanied by a small breeze named Shane.

"I have no clue." Ryan rubbed his face, "Didn't the Overdrive Rangers have a submarine?"

"We are not involving the Overdrive Rangers." Carter said firmly, "They're still enjoying the fruits of saving the world."

"Plus they're certified celebrities." Eric said darkly.

"That too." Carter agreed.

"So then how are we going to find Madison?" Jen growled out.

"Shouldn't our Ranger suits be able to regulate the water so we could breathe?" Dana asked quietly. Jen nodded.

"Probably. I don't think any of us have tried it, but in theory that should work."

"Next question then." Eric said, "Who's going in?" Nick slammed his sword down, pounding himself in the chest.

"You can't Nick." Claire told him softly, "Fire and water just don't mix." The Red Knight turned away towards the water, his shoulders sagging. Leanbow woofed at his son softly, offering comfort. His loved one was still missing as well.

"I'll go." Wes said with a small sigh, stepping towards the waters edge and readying his morpher.

"I will too." Jen replied, before Eric could open his mouth, "Taylor, can you keep an eye on us from the air?" The Eagle squawked in agreement.

"Okay, just remember you're looking for a giant blue mermaid." Carter reminded them.

"That should be easy enough to find." Cam drawled under his breath, then he added, "Maybe Claire and I should head back, see if we can't find Udonna while you guys are looking for Tori and Madison." Claire nodded.

_Alyssa and Cole say that they shall accompany them._

"The cat-people are going with you guys." Eric told Cam, jerking a thumb at the Alyssa and Cole.

"Do you think you could help me find the proper spells?" Claire asked Leanbow. The rust-colored wolf nodded his head, trotting off with Alyssa and Cole towards Rootcore."

"Time for Time Force!" Jen and Wes cried, morphing, as Cam and Claire followed the animal-rangers.

"Right, now we don't know how long your air-supply will last, so try to be quick about it." Carter told them, all business.

"We don't even know if they have air-supply." Eric muttered.

"Don't worry Nick, we'll find her." Wes told the Mystic, as he and Jen waded into the water. They gave the group a quick thumbs up before diving in.

_Wow._ Wes blinked his eyes, trying to sort out the bright blue that was the water surrounding him. He carefully took a testing breath, air rushed into his lungs. Dana and Jen were right. He twisted his head, locating Jen who was already swimming ahead of him in long sure strokes. She looked so great in her ranger suit. He blinked again, willing his mind to concentrate on the mission at hand. Wes kicked his legs, swimming further into the blue around them. He figured the eerie bright blue water was a result of the lake being in the magical realm, he'd have to ask the Mystics about it later.

Jen sighed inwardly; this was not going to be the best way to spend the day. The lake was huge, not to mention that it was deep enough that when Madison was a huge titan mermaid, she could do flips underwater. She sighed again, this time in frustration, she stopped swimming, tempted to put her hands on her hips and glare at everything. Then something warm touched her shoulder, she whirled, small bubbles accompanying the movement. Wes had finally caught up with her, and he was pointing up at the surface above them. Jen hissed in agitation, they just got started and he wanted to stop. Wait- she reached up and clicked the small button on the side of her helmet.

"Wes, can you hear me?" she asked, hoping that the mics in her helmet worked underwater. Wes nodded his head, and then reached up to find his own hidden button.

"Jen! Wow this is cool." His voice sounded artificial in her helmet.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Just thinking we should see if Taylor found anything. She's circling pretty close to the water." Wes glanced up, "Could be nothing."

"Or she could have seen something." Jen nodded, kicking towards the surface. They broke together, Wes waving at the eagle above them.

"Hey we're pretty far out." He murmured, spying the group on the shore.

"It looks like Eric's screaming at us." Jen cocked a helmet as they treaded water, "Wonder what he's saying." Wes shrugged, looking around at the water around them.

"Don't you think it's weird that we just started and we're already in the middle of the lake?" He said softly to her.

"You don't think…" Jen glanced around her, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." Taylor screeched above their heads, as if agreeing.

"Maddie should know who we are though-" Wes stopped mid-sentence, "I just felt something tug on my ankle."

"This is like something out of a horror film." Jen shuddered.

Then they were both yanked underwater.

Sorry for not posting in a while! Hopefully this gets finished before new years, but the more reviews I get the faster I will write! (nudge nudge). :)


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